While living in Holland Jeff decided to buy something less sensible than the family car which was then a Renault Laguna. One night he sat down and went through every

Then followed a period of internet searching to find out more about the Marcos, including correspondence with AA Tech in NZ, which settled Jeff on buying an earlier model – more than 20 years old so that frontal impact standards were not an issue. A 1969 Marcos GT 3-Litre V6 was listed on ebay. A quick enquiry of AA Tech to see what they thought of cars with wooden chassis being imported to NZ, including correspondence with Marcos Heritage and the seller and he placed a successful bid.

This Marcos probably left the factory in component form and then professionally assembled before delivery. On viewing the “build file” for the car Jeff found out that the original order had been cancelled by the original customer as the car wasn’t ready in time. It was later sold and as an optional extra the Marcos had been fitted with the latest 1969 safety device – retractable seatbelts. Just before Christmas 2005, the car arrived in New Zealand and the car was delivered to AA Tech in Lower Hutt for certification.

Ultimately there was nothing extremely difficult in the certification process. Nothing that could not be fixed through the liberal application of cash and the skills of Howat Engineering and Ken McAdams team. Andy Ward completed the certification in June. One last dilemma before the car was registered was to work out what it would be registered as. The car is a 1969 Marcos GT 3 Litre V6. Jeff maintained that that is how the car should be registered and resisted the initial suggestions that the car be registered as a “Scratchbuilt” or a “Custombuilt”. It’s not. It is a production vehicle made in low volume. Marcos made 119 wooden chassis 3 Litre V6’s in 1968/69. Ultimately he acquiesced and agreed to the car being registered as a 1969 LVVTA Marcos 3L V6.